Motherhood
by Celesma
Summary: A year in the life of Rem and her boys, in a collection of drabbles. Based on a mixed anime and manga canon, updated at my leisure.
1. Chapter One

A/N: Taking another stab at genfic! This is just something relaxing for me to write while I go through a transitional period in my life. The idea for the story format – and subject matter, actually – comes from the wonderful Harry Potter fic "A Different Fate," although I always wanted to write something centered on Rem and the twins. Updates will most likely be sporadic. The storyline takes elements from both the manga and the anime. Every chapter will be comprised of five perfect drabbles (that is, segments that are exactly 100 words: no more, no less). I hope y'all like them! :)

* * *

_"It's been a great year. It's as if I took an instant shortcut to motherhood."_

– Rem, Trigun Maximum: Volume 6, Chapter 44

* * *

**1. Perdition**

She looks out the cabin viewport, gazes into the stars shining out of the depths of space. That enormous void – so much like a face, with its million eyes – reflects her inner condition, a loss of self: a blackness that not even the light of the stars can penetrate.

She still doesn't know why she chose to embark on this journey. Desperation, probably. And yet it has brought so much more pain than the life she left behind, forever buried with Alex, her one love.

She looks, and wonders if this journey can be anything other than perdition.

* * *

**2. Tears**

The babies cry and struggle against the slimy vines that secure them to the floor. So much like human children, they are: their faces are red and pinched and wet with tears.

Joey wants to kill them. He knows what will happen if the "others" find out about this. Better to end their lives now, rather than keep them alive to experience the torture that their sister was forced to go through.

Rem stands in front of them with her arms flung wide, tears shining down her face. If this one small act will redeem all her sins of omission...

* * *

**3. Boys**

Within a few hours, the babies are dressed and fed; and the identical blond sheens of both children begin to fade into something approaching individuality. One child's hair is the color of wild honey, while the other's takes on a high, almost-icy appearance. Rem balances both in her lap, enjoying the warmth of their little bodies. Mary marvels.

"What cute girls," she says, holding out a finger for one of them to gum contentedly.

Rem smiles. "They're boys, actually."

As Mary reels back in surprise, Rowan shakes his head at the impossibility. "And there's absolutely no explanation for it whatsoever."

* * *

**4. Pact**

"What are we going to do with them?"

"Nothing. We say nothing, we alert no one. They can be passed off as human children easily enough once they're of age."

The crew – consisting of the only human beings to remain awake on this ship – makes a pact, bound not by written contracts or the blood of devil-worshipers or the spit-soaked hands of a child, but by simple words. Even Steve agrees, grudgingly. No one else will ever find out about this.

They are now lawbreakers, all of them, but Rem knows: there is a higher Law than this.

* * *

**5. Lullaby**

It's a good thing the "others" are in cold sleep. Otherwise it would be impossible to hide the babies – they cry so much! Rem thinks of their mother, wonders if the task of comforting them would be better left to her. She will take them to her, soon enough. But for now, she just rocks them and sings the song that lulled her to sleep when she was their age.

_"So... on the first celestial evening..."_

The soft melody seems to soothe them, as well as the gentle swaying motion of her arms; and they drop off to sleep.


	2. Chapter Two

**6. Familiar  
**

"We have to give them names, you know," Mary says. "We can't just call them Thing One and Thing Two."

_"Things _are exactly what they are," Steve grumbles, but she ignores him, turning to Rem.

"So what did you have in mind?"

Rem starts. "Me?"

"You took to them like your own children. You should be the one to name them." The rest of the crew – sans Steve – nods their agreement.

For some reason, Rem feels trepidation. Unpleasant memories surface in her mind. It's too familiar. "I'll have to start looking up baby names, I guess," she mumbles.

* * *

**7. Subject  
**

Originally the girl was just a number. Rem had been tangentially involved in the observations back then, when the methods of the "others" were not so invasive, so life-threatening. She demanded that she be given a name. One of them finally conceded and began to refer to the girl in the reports as "Tessla," after the famous scientist. Rem hated it, but she did not protest: as she had failed to do in so many other matters.

The children must be named, that much is true. But Rem does not deserve the honor of being the one to do it.

* * *

**8. Feminine**

"I think we should call him Vash," Rem announces one day out of the blue. She and Rowan are sitting in the Rec Room, enjoying the warmth of the artificial sunlight. She indicates the infant with the strawberry-blond hair, who stalks a ladybug through the green brush.

"But isn't that a girl's name?" Rowan asks. "You know, one of Picard's girlfriends on _Star Trek_..."

Rem laughs. "It can be a boy's name, too. Besides," she adds, watching as the boy gently plucks the ladybug off a blade of grass, "isn't there a little bit of the feminine in all boys?"

* * *

**9. Sharp**

Naming the other child is a tougher sell. She can almost feel his displeasure as she reads aloud from the baby book, letting each name roll over her tongue. Even though the child drools and requires diapers like a human infant, he also seems so much more intelligent, _aware._

Rem sighs and walks over to the counter to peel an apple. When the knife passes into the boy's line of sight, she suddenly stops.

A mental tug. The boy seems pleased, even though his blank expression never changes.

"All right," Rem says, sighing but also smiling. "Knives it is, then."

* * *

**10. Disapproval**

Steve roars with laughter. "Freak names for freak kids! First you give one of them a girl's name, and then you name the other one after cutlery. What in the hell is the matter with you, Rem?"

"You don't approve?" Rem shakes with anger. The _nerve _of him, to call the children such things...

"I disapprove of a lot more than just their names," Steve says, but Joey stops him from going any further.

"That's enough." The captain lays a threatening hand on Steve's shoulder, who snorts with disgust. He looks to Rem.

"I think their names are just fine."


End file.
